One major application of refrigerators is the refrigeration of liquids for drinking, such as water and soft drinks, carbonated or non-carbonated. In order to somewhat satisfy this consumer demand, some modern refrigerators comprise integrated dispensers for filtrated cold water and/or ice cubes, whereby the consumer no longer needs to actively put bottles of decanters of water in the fridge. However, many other drinking liquids still needs to be bought in a store, brought home and placed in a fridge, taking up lots of space in said fridge.
US 2006/0021919 discloses a cartridge for selectively dispensing an additive to water that includes a housing, a bladder disposed within the housing, and a pump connected to the housing and in fluid communication with the bladder. The bladder is configured to contain a consumable additive such as a flavour, for water. The pump is operable to selectively dispense an amount of the additive into water. The cartridge may be connected to a water filtration system such that the cartridge may dispense the additive into filtered water. However, such a cartridge is too bulky to be integrated in household appliances, and is high maintenance which makes it unsuitable as a consumer product.
WO 2009/058839 discloses dispensers for dispensing liquid from a concentrate/extract cartridge. The dispensers each include an actuating coil into which a dispensing tube is inserted. The concentrate/extract cartridge allows for dispensing a liquid in an accurate and repeatable manner. The cartridge includes an electromagnetically actuated piston connected to a valve. The piston includes an exterior ring supported by a hollow interior web that is configured to permit a flow of fluid into the dispensing tube when the valve body is in contact with the valve seat. A membrane is located below the web and is in sealing o contact with the internal ring when the piston is activated. A controller is connected to the coil for controlling the actuation of the piston/valve assembly for dispensing the fluid in the cartridge. However, there is no guidance on how to integrate such dispensers into household appliances such as white goods with low maintenance.